Also, take the story of the Israelites in the wilderness(Num 21:5-9). When they disobeyed God, He sent down serpents that bit the people. After they repented and confessed of sinning(Num 21:7), God had Moses build a serpent on a standard, and whoever looked upon it was healed. That is a great example for us today. We must believe that we will be saved, repent of our past sins, confess, and be baptized. Would the Israelites have lived if they hadn't looked at the serpent?? They had to act in obedience to be saved. Jesus talked of the serpent in relation to Him being on the cross(John 3:14).
One more great example is the story of Naaman(2 Kings 5:1-14). When Naaman had leprosy, he called for Elisha to heal him. Elisha sent a messenger to tell him to dip in the Jordan 7 times to be healed. Naaman didn't accept this at first because he wanted Elisha to just come to him and wave his hand over his head, calling on the name of the Lord to heal him. But later, Naaman was convinced to obey Elisha. When he dipped in the Jordan 7 times, he came out healed. This is a very simple and useful example for us today. Elisha would be like God sending us a messenger, Jesus, to tell us to believe, and be baptized(Mark 16:16) to be cleansed of sin. Some may just want to believe, and expect God to do the rest, but we have to obey God to be pleasing to Him!!
For more info on the steps of salvation, click here.
